14x SATA II, SATA III Benchmark Comparison - BIOS Enabled or Disabled Discussion

Do any of you have the Caddy in place of the DVD-rom? If so, did you install a SSD in the caddy? Plugged into SATA dvdrom port What speeds are you getting? Did you notice that without Intel RST (regardless of version) that your performance is very strange and lockups are frequent? Can any of you run the ATTO bench against the caddy which will show to be 3.0? thanks

 

It just went down from 3,0 to 1,5 and suddenly raptor gave me more options, and without warning it went up to 3.0 again. Weird and annoying!

 

Update! So .. after getting totaly stuck with 3.0 all of sudden I removed the raptor drive, now it takes a lot longer to boot windows - however : it is back on sata6 speed, what nonsense is this lol

NEW update :

Have done 20 reboots after uninstalling raptor, 20/20 its with sata6speed - however it seems more unstable, the speed goes more up and down now. Window boot is now back on track and its superfast.
Final testing will show if it continue to stay on sata 6 or if it will go down.

New update : Played some SC2 and played with the computer, still sata6, with raptor driver it seemed to jump down after a while, but still to early to say something, need to let the computer be on the whole night and then wee se.

 

Sorry if I've missed something along the thread, but what "raptor" drive or driver are we talking about? Thanks.

 

Exactly what I was thinking. Is this new software of some sort?

So after the BIOS update there's still no difference with the SATA ports? Seems to me like the default chipset driver keeps it at SATA 6gb/s? What drivers are you guys using when you get the random SATA 3/6gb/s issue? If we simply swap the factory HDD with an SSD and use the alienware restoration CD as well as drivers from the CD, I believe most people get 6gb/s based from what I've read here in this thread. When using intel RST or updating chipset drivers and other drivers, this is where the random SATA interface issue seems to pop up..Can someone confirm this? Maybe try using the drivers from the restoration CD only and run some testing then update chipset driver and other drivers then test again then post results or differences if any with how the SATA interface acts with the 2 said conditions. I'd do this but my M14 isn't here yet..

 

Sorry double post, mod please delete. Thanks.

 

If you look at the my pictures last page its all there.
Its the intel RST which follow as a default driver, it seems that everyone getting the same thing as me.

I can also confirm that without RST the system is indeed sata6 but hell of unstable, I have installed/uninstalled and the test result for me after a looot of testing is :

RST : Stable but jumps from sata 6 to sata 3 after a while
Without : untable as hell : when testing it writes everywhint from 350 to 100.

 

Yes, I think it's safe to say by now that the M14x has some severe issues with SATA 3.0 and RST "solves" the problem by downgrading it to SATA 2.0. This is very disappointing to say the least and costs anyone with a new SATA 6GBps an up to 50% loss in drive performance.

The manual's list of specifications states, I quote: "one 2.5 inch SATA 2.0 (3Gb/s) or SATA 3.0 (6Gb/s) hard drive/one solid state drive" This can't be interpreted in any other way than that it has SATA 3.0 6GBps support (as all SATA 3.0 drives are backwards compatible anyway).

 

Anybody thinking of a class action lawsuit against Dell for, if I dare say, gross misrepresentation of the product sold? That'll teach them a lesson to treat consumers as their very own guinea pigs.

 

One of the reasons I purchased this was for its 6.0 Gb-s stated claims which is a night and day difference over SATA 2.0. Really sucks.

 

I'm going to be happy being able to use my Crucial C300 once my M14X arrives next week. SATA II/III speeds or not. It sure beats the mechanical HDD speeds and I'll be waiting patiently for a fix to arrive.

 

Same here... this really has to be addressed by Dell. Is there a Dell rep. on this forum?

 

Totally support your claim. Was so going to pull the trigger on M14x

 

Just talked with the norwegian organisation about sales etc and they told me that I have a case against dell at least here in Norway when I can demand my money back or some discount since its strickly forbidden here to sell something that dont work and in this case sata6 speed does not work as it should - they actually told me if this was true its illigal for dell to sell m14x here with the description as it stand now, they would get back to me since it was weekend but I suggest we take action to at least make Dell know we are pissed.

We have already found out that its a issue with stabilty and RTS "fix" this to sometimes downspeed it to 3.0 like one here just said.

Its sadly actually, if this will not be adressed or if not dell makes a statment im afraid that the rumour of alienware as a brand will be totally destroyed for a looong time, it almost seems that we are betatesters for m14x.

I was pleased as hell with my m11xR1 - now I feel that im been tricked and Im not sure if I going to send M14x back, after paying a lot of cash for an SSD which I cant use 100%

 

Either they fix the problem or issue some compensation. Otherwise a return + refund.

It's like buying a car with a 400hp engine and finding out that it can only provide 200hp, then the dealer says "we have no plans to fix it". Would anyone be OK with that? (apparently that's what Dell said according to an earlier post).

 

Yes 6.0 GB-s is a game changer hands down. Do not tread lightly it is a huge performance gain over SATA II. Trust me my desktop flies with the Vertex 3 in it.

 

Isn't the laptop SATA 3 by default when intel RST and/or other drivers with bugs aren't installed?

 

Yes it is, but its a issiue with it who makes the performance like riding a rollercoaster, its really sick how unstable it is when it comes to speed.

 

Found something that helps alot with issues concerning Intel RST and SSD.

After reading all the complaints I got curious and installed RST to see if it caused problems.... well it did haha. Not only did it effect the speed of my drive but it also caused massive hang ups as RST started and lowered the speed of my 2nd drive from 3Gb/s to 1.5Gb/s. After some digging I found this.

I followed the steps listed to basically turn off the power management of RST from port0 (where my m4 sits). After I did this all my issues washed away.

I realize this is said to be an issue with c300 and c400 drives but I wouldnt doubt others are effected as well. Anyway hope this helps some. Laterz

 

Placebo? Other than benchmarks, the Vertex 3's random R/W speeds don't even saturate SATA/150, which is the main determinant for snappiness, so on SATA/300 or SATA/600, real life performance isn't much different.

 

^This, the only real difference is for large file transfers (from SSD to SSD) and virus scans, etc.

 

Thank you its much appreciated, since I removed the RST driver then I started to get random freeze so I thought that my C300 was unstable thanks to alienware chipset, I DL and installed Intel_HM67-Cougar-Point (thought it was RST - was tired) and then installed RST, and that was 24 hours ago - since then I have had sata6 for the most (still jumps down after a whiile) and the freeze are gone - however I gonna try the guide to see if its any difference - after exam that is.
Because like 1/10 times it can take aaaages to boot windows, its like from 8 sec reboot to 1 minutt.

But whats the heat when its not noticeble in windows the difference between sata II/SATA III - C300 I got some days ago after people did NOT recoomend me get one of the new which write/read over 500mg and go for C300 (when I googled C300 it was all about driverissues and hate, but people still recommended it so they got it)
Like I mentioned all I care about is fast loadingtimes in games/windows and installing games.

Any thoughts about my last part here ?

 

my intel 510 elmcrest seems working flawlessly with the cougar point chipset + RST driver.

 

Do you mean flawlessly as with full SATA 6GBps functionality and speeds?

 

erm...no, the drivers are still moody. When it reports 6GB/s, atto shows 220/450 mb/s of transfer rates. When it shows 3GB/s, atto only reaches 210/280

but still, for me it is a big step forward, at least it is functional without random freezes or error

returning multiple vertex 3 max iops tomorrow

 

So I just found out something for us C300/M3 C400/M4 customers when using the RST drivers. To eliminate the freezing that happens in Windows 7, you need to put in these registry tweaks to turn off LPM (which I guess is some kind of power management that doesn't agree with Crucial SSDs).

http://forum.notebookreview.com/sol...on-c400-ssd-series-thread-13.html#post7547003

 

Im going to try that as well as the newest C300 driver. But my freezing is however gone and atm I getting sata6 for the most part, but those people reported that they speed went up. They said something about laptops-users and LP speed ?

I saw someone said that with intel ssd drivers the alienware m14x works better, wonder if its anything true in that .. I saw the 500/500 new SSD but for me as an gamer would I see any difference ?

Will anyway rapport whats happens after im done that.

 

Vertex 3 will beat the intel drive by 1 or 2 seconds loading time, which you may not feel

And Vertex 3 may give you lots more headache - that is a big no from me. When I get home I just want to relax and have fun, not fixing my computer all night.

 

My sentiments exactly. I got home about a week back only to turn on my comp and get never-ending BSODS with my M4. Going to try to install the RST driver and apply the reg fix after formatting A-G-A-I-N.

 

Seems that I made the right choice regard C300 .. I only though since it "only" write and read 350/140 compared to faster SSD at least on paper.

But so far Im in absolute love in C300 when m14x is on sata6 it goes as a dream and looking forward to tweak it more ; today it have been on sata6 for like 7 hours straight and thats a new record. All the benchmark starting to get boring lol.

Its funny that even in 2011 you cant expect what you buy to work as it should.

 

even funnier is that we still don't have flying cars, photon guns, or floating cities :-(

 

I remember as a very small and cute kid in the beginning of the 90s a magasine stated that in 20 years at least two of those above will probably happen. :O


Edit : I want to trow in one fast question , is C300 still worth picking up even today compared to other SSD ?

 

You can get an M4 for roughly the same price. Despite my issues with it, the speed difference is pretty big.

EDIT: There's also another one coming out (or out already, not sure), the force 3 i think it was, that is cheaper than the M4 and faster too, methinks. Can someone confirm?

 

yup, it is faster than M4 but slower than Vertex 3 despite the awesome looking IOPS figure. Corsair decide to hide the 4k read IOPS in their forum, it is like 10k below Vertex 3

The not yet released force GT supposed to be the flagship of Corsair SSDs.

 

I just googled it some more, its sick how awesome c300 is one year after.

Edit : Just found this :

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/268499-14-c300-switches

Like we have thought about - the issiue seems to be the sandy bridge P67 that with Sata3/6 speeds. -_-

 

What is the brand of this ssd im interested?

 

It's the corsair force serie 3, look here for the 120g in newegg.ca

 

My C300 performs like crap. I've read so much info on it and have done the LPM.reg fix etc and still I get SATA II speeds. It reads SATA III 6GB/s all day long but performance wise my Intel 320 Series in my M11X is performing nearly identical to this C300.

 

Can you trow up an benchmark of your ssd ? Want to see you score so we can compaire.

My work as an dream with RST without the fix so long as it is on SATA3.

 

sorry to hear that...maybe it's a defective drive? I had a C300 in mine at first and it was a dream. Much less headache than my M4

 

Without RST-



And with RST-

 

It seems that we getting sata6 speed but unstable without RST. -_-

 

Sorry but I can't seem to understand. I thought SATA 6 speed can be achieved without RST but with RST SATA 6 speed is unstable? Are you saying I need to install RST in order to get SATA 6 numbers with a single SSD setup? I don't plan on removing the dvd-rom. Thanks.

 

With RST it will be sata6 but I think we can say that the P67 chipset Sandy Bridge from intel have some issiues or something and RST like one another guy here stated "solves" the problem whatever it is and downgrades it from III --> II

Sometimes I can have 7-8 hours of joy before RST suddently choses to go down to 3 and sometimes even 1.5.

 

But without RST at all, I'll get SATA 3GB/s speeds? That sucks, I've never used RST. Thought it was for setting RAID 0 or something.

 

No, without RST you get SATA III 6GBps speeds but likely a very unstable system (not you?). Does anyone have the stock (Samsung?) drive that Dell ships with the M14x? It would be interesting to know if that one runs at 6GBps as it is explicitly sold as one.

 

So the SATA III issue isn't solved yet?

 

Seems not yet.

Thing is, I ust got an Agility 3 120g, will be picking it up in a few weeks...

I would be glad if it works at least in Sata 2 for now.

I`m also following this forum, BUT, I cant get access to post on it?

M14X SATAIII/II issiue - the manual states that it does but only halfway - will this be adressed ? - Alienware Forum - Alienware Club - Dell Community

 

From Dell Forums

Posted by DELL-Chris M on 3 Jun 2011 8:55 AM
Dukiesan,

The threads have been forwarded to engineering. My guess is they will say working as designed.. The manual was worded very carefully. It does not state, "sustained" 6Gb/s throughput.


Forum Liaison 2001 to present

ummmmmmmm I have no comment.

 

I hope they are kidding.